Agilent Technologies Inc. today launched the Genomic DNA ScreenTape, a prepackaged consumables device that works with the company’s 2200 TapeStation instrument to determine the quantity, size and quality of genomic DNA in less than two minutes per sample, using only one microliter of material.

“The automated 2200 TapeStation and new Agilent Genomic DNA ScreenTape address an important bottleneck and revolutionize the currently subjective quality assessment of genomic DNA,” said Dr. Donna McDade Walker, product manager for microfluidics at Agilent. “Within minutes of testing their genomic DNA samples, researchers can be confident that their starting materials are of the highest quality. This introduction demonstrates our commitment to expanding the range of automated sample QC tools for next-generation sequencing and workflows for array comparative genome hybridization.”

The quality of genomic data depends on the quality of the starting material. Therefore, it is imperative to determine whether samples contain a sufficient quantity of intact, high-quality genomic DNA before committing time, money and resources to a genomics experiment. The standard, manual method for assessing the quality of genomic DNA samples is laborious, can take several hours to complete and is prone to mistakes.